You may recall I have hoped / wished / dreamed of a Johnson-Voynov pairing several times on this site. Bluntly, I didn’t think I would get it. Well, somebody was listening or it was total coincidence…my guess is the latter. While I am excited to see those two together, I look at the forward lines and pull a Wil Wheaton sound effect…derp.

First, Brown should stay on left wing. The Terry Murray “he can adjust during the game” is dumb. Adjusting on the fly works on a few plays during a game, if the linemates are communicating and used to it, but Murray makes it sound like it’s a piece of cake. It isn’t. Brownie has shown the left side is his strong side, he is holding on to the puck, not releasing it like a hot potato from bad angles, demonstrating patience and resolve by going after rebounds. To switch back to the right unwinds two games of momentum he has built. That is not smart coaching. That is not using your assets where they perform at their best.

Instead, the top line should be Brown-Kopitar-Richardson. That is a quick line and Richardson has got to be itching to get back into things. His speed and fire-plug mentality will complement Brown and I do believe Richardson will be the beneficiary of some rebounds from Dustin’s new-found ability to find the net from the center of the ice. Remember also Brown is a right-handed shot and Richardson is a lefty so both will be on their forehands on their respective strong side.

The second line was Gagne-Richards-Stoll. Keep Gagne on the left, put Stoll in the middle and add Williams to the right. Gagne-Stoll-Williams. Gagne and Williams will have chemistry. They are similar players. Terry Murray should not place Penner on the second line and not on the left side anymore. That leads us to…

The third line should be Clifford-Loktionov-Penner. “Wait, what?” You would never know it, but Penner is a goal scorer. Penner is a left hand shot. The left side is not working for him. He looks lost. Put him on his strong side. Elevate his confidence by giving him more shooting opportunities as well as open up the center of the ice to cross ice passes down low and one timers. This keeps Penner on his forehand (not his backhand) when making plays and firing pucks.

The fourth line can be a combination of what we have left. My preference is Westgarth-Fraser-Lewis. No Ethan Moreau? No Ethan Moreau.

15 replies

… Meh. I like the top two lines. Brown’s all over the ice; I don’t believe there’s too much of a difference for him as to what wing he’s on. I think people make too big of a deal with it when it comes to Dustin, just as they magnify his flaws.

The third line with Westgarth on it is comical; I hope that’s a joke. I don’t see where Loktionov can’t center Clifford and Richardson. Moreau’s still in the lineup – that’s also funny.

I like the first D pairing, but I’d prefer Greene and Voynov on the second. Jack should be on the third pairing at even strength and work primarily as a PP specialist.

Quick has been outstanding the last couple of games, and I wouldn’t complain if he got the next start, although rumour has it that Bernier’s scheduled.

Comments from Bruce Boureau from last night: “If you look at the teams that are successful, it’s not the teams that are the most penalized teams.”

Yeah, Terry Murray might do well do drive that message home to the team because they are not only taking way too many penalties, but too many undisciplined penalties. They are 7th worst in the league.
Who are some of the teams that take the least no. of penalties?

Boston, Chic, Florida, San Jose. Pittsburgh are bottom third. Det mid table. The one and only team high in the list thats doing well is Philly.
The Kings may have a good PK, but as another blogger pointed out, for a team that has such difficulty scoring 5-on-5, they don’t help their cause by spending so much time killing penalties. Not only does it leave them shorthanded, but they also ruin the little bit of flow that they occasionally find on the offensive end.

Of course, that was not how they practiced. Westy didn’t even touch that line, which begs the question as to why it was reported otherwise. Especially that Westy would be slotted for that spot when everything I saw indicated otherwise, ie. that Hunter would play that position, which of course, he did.